A Blog for Motorcycle Enthusiasts Since 2008

Unless you live under a rock you know S100 products are great for cleaning your motorcycle. I’m not a chome and spoke wheel guy, I’m more practical and go for the tubeless alloy wheels. Diana and I ride Dyna’s with almost the same wheels. Neither of us are big on cleaning our bikes but when we do we start with S100 products. Cleaning the brake dust and road grime off the wheels seems like a job in itself. That’s where S100 Wheel Cleaner comes in. It’s a high performance gel that you spray on, wait a little bit and then spray off with a water hose. I scrub the wheels with the scrubbing side of a dish washing sponge before the rinse and then again after the rinse and rinse again. I do this until I’m satisfied. S100 Products usually require extra rinsing off to make sure the washing agents have completely washed away along with the road grime.

I have practically ruined my wheels by not cleaning them enough. It seems like the road grime and brake dust are permanently attached to the exposed unpainted unpowder coated alloy of the wheel. I’m trying to take care of Diana’s wheels a little better; especially since her wheels are 100% exposed alloy. My Low Rider came with similar wheels but have a smooth finish and black powder coating on the mag spokes which makes cleaning a lot easier. Not only did the Super Glide come with no powder coating on the wheels, but Harley-Davidson gave it a textured finish which is much more difficult to clean. Another one of those jokes that H-D plays on us that I don’t get.

8 Responses to “S100 Wheel Cleaner – Product Review”

Good review. Thanks. I hate cleaning wheels. I used to have the mag wheels with some exposed aluminum, and the textured shit you referred to that H.D. played a little joke on us all with. I hated cleaning that texture, so I bought a 100 spoke front wheel. What the heck was I thinking? At least the back is a smooth solid disk. One of them is easier cleaning.

I have to toss in a plug here. Cycle Care 1 (and for that matter all of the Cycle Care products) is also a fantastic product. If you keep up with your wheel cleaning it is a spray-on/hose off product. If your wheels have been neglected for a while, you’ll have to do some scrubbing. The stuff works like a charm.

Because of my saddlebags and the swingarms, the back wheel of my Softail is almost impossible to get at. It’s a cleaning nightmare, so an aggressive “pre-treat” type of product that will melt away most of the grime and require minimal elbow grease is what I need. Is there an S!00 product that’ll work for me?

Oh, and those solid disk wheels may look nice in the showroom, but if you were riding with them in strong cross winds I think you’d hate them. Everybody I know who’s had them has the same complaint. Not a nice feeling at all they say – real strong gusts feel like they’re trying to push you over. Just what I’ve heard, but I tend to believe it.

Good to hear from you bud. I was getting concerned we would not hear from you anytime soon. Did you get my e-mail? I’m up in your neck of the woods this coming weekend! Wanted to get ahold of you and maybe hook up.
As far as the chrome wheels go, I’m thinking the regular S100 all purpose bike cleaner will clean up the wheels. Good luck with that. I don’t envy you when it comes to cleaning time.